Training Academy For Clyde Shipbuilders

The Applied Shipbuilding Academy, to be located at the company’s Scotstoun yard, will support the development of the entire workforce, from apprentices to senior managers. As well as upskilling existing personnel, the project is intended to attract and nurture new talent, to secure the industry’s future for generations to come.

The £12m ($15.3m) academy is due to be completed in the second half of 2024 and will comprise two main elements, the Modern Trade Hall and the Flexible Learning Hub.

One of the present buildings will be retrofitted to become the Modern Trade Hall, with areas dedicated to each shipbuilding trade, ship-realistic mock environments, and research and technical facilities. Immediately adjacent will be the Flexible Learning Hub, containing more than 30 classrooms, a STEM(science, technology, engineering and mathematics) innovation laboratory, and offices.

The centre will provide bespoke training for some 4,500 employees, including approximately 700 apprentices. The new facility will also enable expansion of BAE Systems’ early careers programme, doubling the intake at Glasgow to more than 200 new apprentices each year.

The announcement this month of the start of work on the academy follows the implementation of construction of a new shipbuilding hall at BAE Systems’ nearby Govan yard. The 170m x 80m hall is a pivotal element in the overall £300m($382m) modernisation and digitalisation of the company’s shipbuilding facilities at Govan and Scotstoun.

BAE Systems has contracts on the Clyde for eight Royal Navy Type 26 frigates, and is looking to secure further orders from the market at home and abroad. The newbuild hall will provide the capability to construct two such vessels simultaneously within a controlled, watertight working environment. Both productivity and quality will be improved, and each ship will be more materially complete before being moved across river to the drydock at Scotstoun for tests and acceptance.

The nascent Applied Shipbuilding Academy is the third investment by BAE Systems in dedicated training centres in recent years. It follows the £25m($31.8m) Academy for Skills & Knowledge at Barrow-in-Furness shipyard, which builds nuclear-powered submarines, and the £15.6m($19.8m) academy at Samlesbury, Lancashire, adjacent to the military aircraft production complex.